


A Winter Solstice Tale

by Bluebell7



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Everybody Lives, Fluff, M/M, Tooth Rotting Fluff, because it's cuter that way, gimli is a baby, it's winter solstice, obviously, yep there's mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 22:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2827619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluebell7/pseuds/Bluebell7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a simple piece of pure Christmas fluff. Bilbo and the Dwarves are having a pre-Solstice party. A cuter than cute baby Gimli and a ton of mistletoe may well be involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Winter Solstice Tale

Bilbo hummed happily to himself as he hung another ornament on the Solstice tree in Thorin's large parlour. 

Well, Bilbo thought of it as Thorin's parlour; its official title was the royal receiving room. It was a room adjoining the private apartment of the King Undr the Mountain, normally used for entertaining friends and dignitaries in a less intimidating setting than the cavernous great hall. 

Under King Thorin, the room had essentially turned into a smoking, singing, and drinking area for the company and various other hangers on. Now, at Solstice time, it was filled with glittering Dwarven decorations, most of them hung upon the huge tree that towered in the centre of the room (at least three times as big as Bilbo himself - he had only been able to help decorate the lower branches, although Nori had forcibly sat the Hobbit on his shoulders for a little while so he could reach higher).

The company and their families were descending on the parlour that evening for a little pre-Solstice get together. Bilbo had helped Bombur to fill a groaning sideboard with every sort of food and drink they could possibly want; spiced mead, hot mulled cider, cinnamon biscuits, fruit cakes, cooked meats, soft breads, tasty cheeses, and even some quite exotic looking fruits Bilbo had never seen before - apparently Bombur had made some shrewd trades in Dale.

The bulk of the company had already arrived. Bofur was playing his pipe in one corner, while Bifur attempted to cajole Dori and Ori into dancing with him. Balin had stationed himself in a large arm chair, billowing smoke from his pipe and sipping at his mulled cider, nodding at something Oin was telling him. Fili and Kili were darting around the room like fireflies, hanging decorations and stealing biscuits from the sideboard every time they passed it.

Bilbo sighed contentedly; the room was warm and full of his friends. But, the Dwarf he was most looking forward to seeing this evening hadn't arrived yet. However, just as Bilbo turned to look wistfully at the doorway, Gloin and his wife Bara entered, with little Gimli cradled against Bara's hip. He squirmed excitedly as soon as he saw Bilbo. 

"Baba!" He cried loudly, causing the head of every Dwarf in the room to turn in his direction. Bilbo felt a wide grin plaster itself across his face. 

"Is that Gimli, my favourite Dwarf in all of Erebor?!" the Hobbit gasped, wandering over to take Gimli from Bara, who smiled indulgently at the two of them.

"Baba, Baba!" Gimli gurgled, reaching up to take a handful of Bilbo's curls.  

"He's certainly very enamoured of you, Master Baggins," Gloin chuckled. "And you of him, by the looks of things," he added, watching Bilbo gaze adoringly at the Dwarfling.

"Aye," said Dwalin, wandering over from the sideboard with a foaming mug of mead. "Seems Thorin had better pull his finger out and ask you to marry him before Gimli here stakes a claim!"

Bilbo rolled his eyes at Dwalin and blushed, turning back to kiss Gimli on the nose. 

"Well, Gimli's much more handsome than Thorin for a start," he said, nuzzling the baby's nose and making him giggle.

"That he is," said Fili, appearing suddenly over Bilbo's shoulder and pulling a face at Gimli. "And he's already got a more impressive beard than Kili."

"Oi!" came a disgruntled shout from somewhere near the Solstice tree. Fili gave a nasty chuckle and darted over to tussle with his brother. 

Bara shook her head at them fondly.

"I take it you won't mind if we leave Gimli with you for a while, Bilbo?" she asked, lowering her voice. "Between you and me he's been a right terror all day! It'd be nice to have a little rest."

"Of course, I'd love to have him for as long as you'll let me. In fact," Bilbo tweaked one of the Dwarfling's stockinged feet, eliciting a happy squeak, "I may not ever give him back to you!"

Bara's eyes twinkled, as she took Gloin's arm and the couple moved over to the side table to pour themselves a drink.

Bilbo hefted the heavy little lump onto his hip, and decided that conversation with his favourite Dwarfling in all the world would perhaps be best continued while sitting down. Taking hold of his own mug of cider, he made for an armchair near Balin and sat down with Gimli on his lap.

Ori brought over a plate of biscuits, and Bilbo began feeding small pieces of them to Gimli, in between blowing raspberries onto his cheeks and making the little one shriek and snort with laughter (which in turn made everybody else start laughing too). 

It was during a particularly violent giggling session that Thorin walked into the room, a stern frown melting from his face as soon as he laid eyes on the gathering. Dwalin handed him a mug of mead, and the King slipped off his crown and tossed it playfully into the hands of his head guardsman. Bilbo gave another giggle at that, and felt himself start to redden as Thorin caught his eye and began walking over.

"Good evening, Bilbo," said Thorin, smiling down at Hobbit and Dwarfling in their over-sized armchair.

"Evening Thorin," Bilbo smiled back, as Gimli reached up and grabbed his chin, which was his way of asking for another raspberry. "Oh, excuse me a moment." Bilbo bent down, but before he could blink Gimli had been lifted from his lap and cradled in Thorin's arms. Gimli looked slightly nonplussed for a second, but was soon shrieking with laughter again as Thorin tossed him up in the air and caught him, before starting to tickle him mercilessly.

Fili walked over to them carrying a large sprig of mistletoe.

"Bilbo, explain to us about this Hobbit tradition again?"

"It's quite simple really. We hang the mistletoe from the ceiling, and then any couple caught standing under it have to kiss each other. Or if one person is standing under it then anyone can go up and kiss them."

"Why?" asked Kili, coming over to examine the plant more closely.

"I've absolutely no idea," answered Bilbo, smiling. "It's just a thing we do in the Shire, a thing we've always done. If I know Hobbits, it was invented by some amorous Took to woo some oblivious Brandybuck."

"Well, I've no idea what any of those words mean, but let's get this thing hung up, shall we?" laughed Fili.

"Baba!" said Gimli, wanting to be handed back to Bilbo. Thorin gave the Dwarfling a rueful smile before depositing him carefully on Bilbo's lap, patting the Hobbit's hand gently as he did so. Bilbo blushed, and watched with misty eyes as Thorin and his nephews tied the mistletoe to the end of a rope, and threw it up around a stone ceiling beam.

The party grew a little more raucous from there on in as the mead began to flow freely. Dwalin was the first to be 'mistletoed' as the Dwarves called it, with Bofur bounding across the room to slap a kiss on the top of his bald head as soon as he spotted where the warrior was standing. After Dwalin was talked out of cracking Bofur over the head with his mug, Fili took Gimli under the plant for the express purpose of smothering the Dwarfling with kisses, while Kili planted a kiss right smack on the lips of a very surprised and red-faced Ori. Gloin and Bara shared quite a long kiss under the mistletoe, and then quite a few more, just to be safe.

Once the novelty of the mistletoe had worn off, Bofur began to organise everybody into dancing partners, and set up some rather complex looking jigs that had Bilbo out of breath just watching. Bara was partnering Gimli for now, so Bilbo decided to head out to the balcony for a little bit of fresh mountain air, and to look at the flickering lights of Dale.

He felt a hand on his shoulder as he leaned against the carved stone rail, and turning he saw that Thorin had followed him outside.

"Getting a little too hot in there," said the Dwarf, setting his mead down on the rail.

"Yes," Bilbo agreed. "I'm not sure I'm quite up to one of Bofur's famous jigs just at this moment!"

Thorin gave a grunt of agreement.

"So. Explain this 'misty toe' tradition to me again?" asked the Dwarf, his eyes creasing a little. 

"It's 'mistletoe', as you very well know, you big ape. You hang a piece of mistletoe from the ceiling, and then if any pair should happen to find themselves standing underneath it, they have to kiss. It's good luck, or something."

"Any pair at all?"

"Yes. Well, it doesn't have to be a full-on kiss, you understand. I mean, if you happened to find yourself under it with Dwalin, for example, you could probably get away with some sort of headbutt. What with you being Dwarves and all. But you have to do something, or it's bad luck for all concerned."

"Hmm," Thorin rumbled, appearing to weigh the matter carefully. "And what if, perhaps, I were to find myself under the mistletoe with, say - for example - you?"

Bilbo felt an immediate flush paint itself across his cheeks, and begin to gradually spread downwards in a rather distracting, tingly sort of way.

"Er, well. Well, I suppose that if, er, if you and I were to... were to..."

"Find ourselves under the mistletoe," the King prompted, clearly enjoying Bilbo's squirming. 

"Yes, thank you," Bilbo snapped playfully. "If we were to find ourselves under the mistletoe, then I suppose....I suppose..."

Bilbo looked up at Thorin, who was now on the verge of laughter. Suddenly, something Tookish woke up inside Bilbo, and he fixed his Dwarf with a rather defiant, good-naturedly fiery glare. 

"I suppose you'd have to actually shut the hell up and kiss me, for once, wouldn't you?" he finished, hardly believing the words had come out of his mouth. 

Thorin blinked a little, his eyebrows raised. Bilbo immediately regretted being so bold; what if Thorin really had just been joking, and wasn't actually interested in him at all? What if Bilbo had just been deluding himself all this time? What if Bilbo had offended him, and ruined their friendship forever? What if-

Thorin reached into the inside pocket of his coat, pulled out a tiny sprig of mistletoe, and held it up over their heads. His expression suddenly serious, Thorin spoke quietly, but firmly. 

"You did say it was bad luck not to, didn't you?"

"Yes," Bilbo breathed. "Yes, I did say that, didn't I?"

"Mmm-hmm," Thorin moved a step closer, a small smile beginning to creep back into his expression. Bilbo felt his stomach drop in the most delightful way imaginable. 

"Well then," he managed to murmur, just before Thorin leaned in and brushed Bilbo's lips very gently with his own. 

They pulled apart slightly, just long enough for Thorin to drop the piece of mistletoe to the floor and wrap his arms around Bilbo, pulling the Hobbit up so that he stood on the tips of his furry toes. Then they came together again, Bilbo shivering with delight at the feel of Thorin's beard on his cheeks, and the taste of spiced mead on his tongue.

When the kiss ended, Thorin kept Bilbo clutched close. Bilbo shivered a little, both with excitement and with the chill in the night air. Thorin took the edges of his coat, and wrapped them around the small Hobbit, completely hiding him from view (apart from his feet, of course). Bilbo gave a little huff of laughter against Thorin's chest, and wrapped his arms tightly around the Dwarf's thick waist. 

"Thorin, you loon," he murmured. He felt the Dwarf's big hands come to rest on his back, stroking him in gentle circles.

Bilbo was just beginning to think that he could stay snuggled inside Thorin's coat forever when-

"Uncle, have you seen Bilbo? Gimli's refusing to join in the games without him. Why are you standing out here, anyway?"

Thorin coughed rather pointedly, and turned towards his nephew as Bilbo poked his head out of the coat. 

"Hello there, Kili," he said brightly.

Kili's jaw dropped.

"Games, you say? Right. Well, I'll be there in just a moment, then."

"Yes. Right. Yes." Kili's expression seemed to be stuck half way between abject shock and a mad grin. "I'll just, er, just go and tell the others, then. Thanks, Uncle Baba."

Kili turned and dashed back into the mountain. Bilbo huffed.

"Uncle Baba, indeed. I'll give him Uncle Baba."

Thorin snorted with laughter, the beautiful Oakenshield smile (that Bilbo loved so much) lighting up his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Mahal bless us, every one. XXX


End file.
